Third Degree

Written by Greg Iles

Narrated by David Colacci

Sometimes the gravest dangers—and the darkest souls—live right beside us….

In the span of twenty-four hours, everything Laurel Shields believes about her life and her marriage to a prominent doctor will be shattered—if she survives a terrifying ordeal. The day begins with the jarring discovery that, soon after ending an affair, Laurel is pregnant. But when she returns home to find her husband ashen, unkempt, and on the brink of violence, a nightmare quickly unfolds.

In the heart of an idyllic Mississippi town, behind the walls of her perfect house, Laurel finds herself locked in a volatile standoff with a husband she barely recognizes. Confronted with evidence of her betrayal, she must tread a deadly path between truth and deception while a ring of armed police prepares a dangerous rescue. But Laurel’s greatest fear—and her only hope—lies with her former lover, a brave man whom fate has granted the power to save both Laurel and her children—if she can protect his identity long enough….

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Nov 6, 2007
• ISBN: 9781423318071

Greg Iles

Greg Iles has spent most of his life in Natchez, Mississippi. His first novel, Spandau Phoenix, was the first of many New York Times bestsellers. His Natchez Burning trilogy continued the story of Penn Cage, the protagonist of The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and #1 New York Times bestseller The Devil’s Punchbowl. Iles’s novels have been made into films and published in more than thirty-five countries. He is a member of the lit-rock group The Rock Bottom Remainders, lives in Natchez with his wife, and his three children.

Reviews for Third Degree

[Tabitha Walls · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this author's writing style but what hooked me with this book was that there are multiple stories simultaneously going on that converge in the end for an extremely dramatic ending.

[Brenda Shealey Steele · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book! I was on edge the entire time! I enjoyed all the characters! The details of each individual give insights into the soul of people. Insights that others might died not facing! Thank You Greg Iles!

[ophelia stewart · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My absolute favorite author. Another great book. Great narrator as well.

[CHRISTINA VASQUEZ · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Really SLOW at times I had to skip some to move on from the mundane descriptions or story.

[Diane Cheney · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

He really needs to get a better editor. This book is a good 40% too padded. It just DRAGS on so much, I really didn't care who lived or died by the end. Which is a shame, because I think it could have been a good book.

[susandennis-139327 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Greg Illes is kind of a frustrating author for me. Some of his stuff is just addictive but the rest is so not that you'd think it was a different author. This was one of the few that straddled the fence. It had potental but needed a serious plot editor. It took a good story and gave it some predicable details and then stretched it out so that at the end, I really didnt' care any more.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A pretty good suspense novel about love, betrayal, and honor. Not my favorite by Greg Iles, but not bad.

[bookish59 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Quick, exciting read about a disturbed doctor, who decides to regain control of his family's lives. His wife is devastated to learn just how little about his life he shared with her. Good; definitely not a fave.

[vashonjim · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Adultery, hostages and a descent into madness. A little different for Iles, but a page-turner nevertheless.

[perkybookworm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good news, everyone! This one doesn't take place in Natchez!

[daftboy1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book starts off ok, its also quite a good story. Laurel and Danny both married to different people are having an affair. Laurel's husband Warren finds out and quite rightly goes nuts. The whole story takes place over one whole day. I got bored reading it I finished it though but was very disappointed. I have read some other of Iles books some are good but others like this one just annoyed me.

[woka_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have found Iles books to always read so easily and leave you not wanting to stop, AGAIN not let down. More and more I find myself advising freinds to pick up Greg Iles. The characters are so entwined in one another's life and you find yourself quickly taking sides.

[marthahuntley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I "read" this book as an audio book, while driving. I was never eager to get where I was headed -- I was more interested in finding out what was going to happen next! The audio version is wonderfully performed, so you get the sense of experiencing both a great read and a spell-binding drama. Narrator David Colacci has never been better; there is a lot of dialogue and many characters in this epic story of one bad day and a bunch of messed-up lives! I had read - or heard - one other Greg Iles book, and remembered it as being a page-turner. Third Degree is that in spades. It's part thriller, part hostage drama, part psychological study, part morality play. Every single character in the book -- both the white hats and the black - is lying about something; some, many things. The book is really about "Oh, What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." All the way through, you're wondering if there is any getting out of this mess for anyone, any possibility of a satisfactory ending for anyone. Well, read it or listen to it, and find out!

[amongstories · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Have you ever been watching television, reading something, or even had something happen to you that makes you think, “Damn, that’s a bad day”? I do this on a daily basis. All while reading Greg Iles’s Third Degree that is what I was thinking. That being said, I couldn’t put the book down. It was fantastic!Laurel Sheilds wakes up one morning to find out that she is pregnant. This is just after ending an affair that she had been having for a year. While she is reeling from the news, she knows that the show must go on and so she begins to go through the day. Her husband is acting a bit strange, but she thinks nothing of it. She knows he has been stressed about troubles with the IRS at work. Later that morning Laurel isn’t feeling well and returns home. This is when things start going downhill. Something obviously is not right with her husband Warren, and Laurel’s only hope is Danny McDavitt, her former lover and a retired serviceman. And that’s all I’m saying, because I don’t want to give anything away.Something that I really liked about Third Degree was that the book takes place during a single day. In the span of one day, a man who many had thought of as a stable family and working man shows that there is another side to him. You spend the majority of the book wondering what happened to inspire such a change in one man. At the end though blood is spilled, secrets are revealed, and there is no shortage of shock.Greg Iles didn’t just write a book that had me at the edge of my seat, he wrote a book that gripped my emotions and had me feeling for everyone, primary and background characters, the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ alike. I had several moments where I reeled in shock or shook my head in plain disbelief. And then things would just keep moving onto the next big thing. There is no ‘come on… let’s get moving’ with this, while reading Third Degree. The book is a page turner and, if you are like me will keep you up all night until you find out what happens.

[greenspoint_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through. Good suspense

[kathy89_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book really had me hooked and wanting to know what happens next. My only compliant is that I listened to the audiobook and was too long. Man finds out his wife is having an affair and holds her hostage in their home until she tells him who her lover is. The tension builds as he goes through her computer email and downloads a password cracker program. Meanwhile the lover suspects something is wrong when she doesn't show for their meeting.

[christinelstanley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good plot, fast pace, flawed heroes and raw emotion. Excellent Greg Iles again

[penforhire · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Imagine that you're riding a world-class roller coaster. Oh, and the person next to you is an angry badger. Yeah, that's what this book feels like. I haven't felt such an intense book-long rush in quite a while.Greg Iles is a master at building suspense. Sure parts of it aren't especially believable, like having an angry badger as your passenger on that roller coaster, but he manages to suspend enough disbelief to keep you interested. The plot was so intense it was hard to read too many pages at a time without a breather.One curiousity about this story is how there are no clear heroes. There are a few obvious villains but the heroes are all tainted and I suppose that gives the story a real-life feel to it. As delicate as Iles is in treating his heroes, he was a bit clumsy with his villains, as if he wasn't sure we'd recognize them if they didn't have their black hats on. That may be the gist of how this book is not worth another star of rating to me. Maybe he doesn't want to write literature but this story approaches it, if not for the villains. Iles captures a great deal of subtlety in the protagonists, just not so much on the bad guys. It was absolutely worth reading and I'll recommend it to fans of thrillers.And without spoiling anything, there are a couple of big loose ends that don't matter to the main plot but Iles made us care so why not wrap them up better? I'm thinking of the Fed-versus-Sheriff and also the two sisters. Was Iles pushed to print this book before it was complete edited?

[caroren_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This one holds you on the edge of your seat. Not easy to put down.

[cdianek · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Returning to a format similar to his 24 Hours, Greg Iles constructs another thriller occurring over roughly a one-day period. Though for this one, he tackles the tension of a domestic upheaval. Laurel Shields learns she is pregnant and unsure who - her husband or her lover - is the father, at the same time she becomes a witness to, and later the victim of, her husband's seemingly inexplicable breakdown.The tension builds as Laurel, then her children, and finally her husband's partner become drawn into the situation. Meanwhile, outside the sheriff's department, the FBI, and finally Laurel's lover, Danny, form alliances and battle each other to bring the crisis to an end.Though a slightly different setting for Iles, he still shines. The characters are well-written, and the situations are reasonably believable, especially once the reasons behind Warren's breakdown become evident. I'm pleased that an adulterous woman - so often the scourge and graphic victim of other writers - is treated reasonably honestly. Danny might be a little too good, however, though it's also reasonable that he might want to shield Laurel's children from more pain. Not Iles' best, but still very, very good.As an audiobook, this was well done. I usually only listen to audiobooks when on solo trips, and haven't taken any in a while, but I recently discovered the benefit of listening to books vs. music at the gym (not so boring, and I will stay longer to hear what's going on) and also just driving around town. The reader was excellent, he displayed the emotions properly to help build the tension. This audiobook gets an A.

[sringle1202 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the latest books by my favorite author and another great read. A husband takes his wife and children hostage over the matter of a day. The suspense will keep you reading. I finished it in a day. Can't wait to read the latest Greg Iles book, and as always I recommend everything by him.

[lynclaireq_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was surprised to find myself reading this book in one sitting. It kept my interest, but I'm not even sure if I liked it.

[emlzcole_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting read that follows a somewhat predictable formula.

[miyurose_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’ve seen a wide range of reviews for this book, and I think I understand why. I had no respect for any of the main characters. Laurel and Danny are cheating on their respective spouses, and Warren is not only holding his family hostage, he’s been cheating the government through his business. There were frustrations, like why didn’t Laurel fight harder? Why did they insist on keeping the affair a secret, even after discovery? That’s probably the point I found most ridiculous… that as Warren found out secret after secret, Laurel still admitted nothing — much to her detriment, and the detriment of her children.But despite all this, I found myself actually leaning forward in my seat as I listened, completely caught up in the suspense. Turns out, I don’t have to like the characters to like the story! I was engaged and anxious throughout the whole thing, because you know there will be no happy ending for everyone… and perhaps for no one. So, if you don’t care about the morals of your protagonists, I recommend this as a good read. Otherwise… you should probably skip it.

[porchsitter55 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rather disappointed in this offering by Greg Iles, one of my favorite authors. Found the story to drag on, and it just seemed like this was a book that was put together out of necessity rather than passion. Was he pressured to churn out this book by the publisher?? Not inspired enough? I wonder, because usually I find his books to be quite good, especially "The Quiet Game", one of my all time favorites. Although the story line seemed good, the delivery was rather shallow and boring. I found myself anxious for this one to end.

[amyblue_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book was too violent and the main characters were not likeable. Plot was tight and very readable, compulsively so, but I ultimately put it down.

[judithz_21 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Not his best. I like to think of Iles' books as smart trashy reads, but this one is just trashy, and not even good trashy. Alas. Stick to his earlier works.

[wirtley · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not as good as other titles. The character's actions were not totally believable. It also went on way too long.

[shelion_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Fast paced and gripping, however most of the story is predictable, and ultimately falls into place. Sort of hollywoodish. Does show human fallabilities well, and believably.

[jlcampbell05 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Laurel Shields, thirty-five and mother of two, awakens to find that her husband, Warren, a prominent local physician, is not in bed with her. Creeping out to the kitchen of their palatial home, she sees him through the doorway of his study, wildly pulling books from the shelves. Two weeks earlier, Warren and his partner were informed by the IRS that their medical practice was being audited; since then the stress on Dr. Shields has steadily ratcheted up.But Laurel has problems of her own. Quickly returning to the bedroom, she locks herself in the master bath, opens a home pregnancy testing kit, and fearfully tests herself. PREGNANT, announces the digital readout. Laurel closes her eyes as though absorbing news of a death, then quickly hides the evidence. She is not sure who the father is. Summoning all her strength, she walks into the kitchen to carry out the acting performance of her life.